from your Pickleball Board.......

September 2018 - Welcome to Another Season!

Pickleball Club Members, welcome to another season of Pickleball here at SCF! We would like to explain some of the changes that have come about since late March of this year. Many of these changes were based on the feedback received from the club survey and the meeting that took place soon afterward.

There were several issues raised from the survey that the Board took under consideration as it developed the upcoming “pickleball season” (October 2018 to April 2019). Issues such as: Rotations held at Wagner Court prior to 11:00 am., Player Waiting Rule being ignored, How is Open / Drop in Play handled at Wagner without a central paddle rack, Better usage of Sage Court Complex and also Player Skill Development needs. The Board discussed these issues and other ideas and came away with the following changes for this upcoming season.

Player Waiting Rule -

This rule applies at both the Wagner and Sage Court Complexes. When players are waiting to play they place their paddle in a paddle rack. At the end of a game, after the good sportsmanship greeting at the nets, players who just played shall look to see if anyone is waiting to play before starting another game.

If someone is waiting to play the following occurs:

1 player waiting to play – a person from the losing team leaves and player waiting to play comes onto the court to play next.2 players waiting to play – the losing team vacates the court and two players waiting come onto the court to play next.4 players waiting – ALL 4 players who have completed their game come off of the court.3 players waiting – All 3 waiting players come on and 1 player from the group of 4 who just finished stays on to form the 4th player.

WAGNER COURTS –

No rotations or special sessions will occur prior to 11:00 am. Most of the different skill groups have grown larger just like the membership itself and thus outgrew the Sage Complex and its eight courts. Thus to allow these larger skill rotations to have more than eight courts they will be held at Wagner but after the Open / Drop in Play.

Open / Drop in Play – Open to ALL SKILL LEVELS at ANY Court

Members are to place their paddles in the paddle rack directly outside of the corresponding court. Each paddle rack is numbered to correspond to the court it is attached to. There should be no confusion when the game that is within ten feet of the paddle rack has ended. Those waiting then play next by following the Player Waiting Rule.

Players can walk the corridors and watch play at the courts during the open / drop in session. Players can watch play and decide to wait outside of a specific court to play next when the game ends. This gives you the total freedom to play next at a level close to your own, maybe challenge yourself a bit by playing with a skill level a bit above your own. You can also give back and be the mentor on the court with players whose skill are less than your own. Remember, we all started at lower skill levels than you are at today.

Courts Assigned by Skill Levels?

None of the courts during Open / Drop in play are assigned by a skill level. Thus a court during Open / Drop in play could have four different skill levels playing together at the same time on the same court. This holds true at all 16 courts at Wagner as well as the 8 courts at Sage.

Competitive Play –

The Board recognizes that some players want to play competitive style games at a level at least similar to their own. Some players may want to engage in a social game with members from their immediate neighborhood. How can we provide this segment an opportunity to do so?

The Board has come up with two ideas for this year. We expanded the “Reserve a Court” program. In the AM hours now, 7 days a week at the Sage Courts you can reserve courts starting at 7:00 AM. Look at the schedule to see how many courts at Sage can be reserved starting at 7:00 AM. We have also expanded the “Reserve a Court” program starting at 6:00 pm at Wagner for 8 of the 16 courts. Again, check the schedule to see which courts can be reserved at night.

Courts that are designated for “Reserve a Court” will revert to Open / Drop in Play if not reserved.

Now players who want to play at their own skill level, players gearing up for upcoming tournament and players that simply want to play with select friends or out of town family members can do so by reserving a court in the early morning hours or in the evenings.

A new idea is “Hard Rated Play” or simply “Rated Play”. These sessions are for those players that have a USAPA rating or obtained an IPTPA rating. The Board has scheduled sessions now for such player ratings of 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0. For the “fall season”, Oct. to Dec. USAPA players will use their “legend rating” as shown at Pickleball Tournamets.com. These sessions will be held at the Sage Courts. This program could be expanded in January.

Challenge Courts -

This concept will not take place thus opening up courts 11 and 12 for Open / Drop in play at Wagner.

Sage Court Complex –

Open / Drop in Play – Open to ALL SKILL LEVELS at ANY Court

Outside of courts 3 and 5, attached to the fence are black wood racks for paddles to be placed while players are waiting to play. One rack outside of court 3 is for courts 1-4. The rack outside of court 5 is for courts 5-8. When a game ends, players waiting next, using the Player Waiting Rule enter to play.

Skill Development -

This past year the club membership approved a fifth Board Member Position titled Player Development. Ernie Jerome holds this position. During the summer, after putting himself through an IPTPA instructor type of course, he has created handout materials. These are for the player attending a skill session as well as a coach for instructing at the session. There will be modules for different skill levels over a set period of time. More information will come in the latter half of October.

Club Balls -

The Board after receiving input from players over this past summer has chosen to go with an Onix ball in the winter (Jan. to Feb. or March) as they hold up better in the colder weather.

The Board has selected the Franklin ball for the remaining months. The Franklin ball places an “ X ” scratched onto their ball. Please make sure what you think may be a crack is not the “ X “. Board Members have found good balls placed in the nets. It may also be that balls found in the rocks by the courts are thought to be broken and placed into the nets in error.

Board Communications –

The Board has posted a monthly financial report since January 2017. The Board will now be posting a summary of the topics discussed at a Board Meeting. You will find the monthly Financial Report and the Club or Board Minutes on the club’s website. Also on the club website in addition to the President’s Message you will also find - Message from the Board.

Skill Sessions –

The Board would first like to thank all of those who stepped up in the past, the present and into the future as session coordinators for specific play levels.

The style of play at a skill session may vary (rotational, round robin, up/down splits) and is up to the coordinator.

Thanks to the many volunteers, we have skill sessions for 2.0 , 2.5 , 3.0 , 3.5 , and 4.0 and higher. The Board realizes that at times players want to play only within their own skill rating and here is yet another opportunity that exists in our club.

As you look at the schedule and see names of the coordinators filling a session, you can still volunteer! I am sure that coordinator would love a break at times and have a back-up person or person to rotate with!!!

As in the past, if you have an idea of a session you would like, contact a Board Member to discuss it.

Check the club website often to look for schedule changes (and other information). As in last year there will be a schedule for Oct.-Dec. and then another one for Jan.-March. A spring / summer schedule then follows.

Dink-a-Thon

This event will be returning this November 15th! The Board is looking to provide a live band like at the In-House Tournament. The Board is looking into having one or two food truck vendors present during this one day event if someone wants to make their own meal purchase, the club is not providing food for this event. Our Master of Ceremonies – Mr. John Woollums will be getting out more information about this event in October.

Nominations –

Bruce Burgess, our Club President, and Bill Baptista, our Club Treasurer, will have their term in office end at the end of this year. They have both met with family and close friends and discussed whether to seek another term. Neither will seek re-election. Towards the end of October information will be provided about the nomination process to fill these two required positions. If they don’t get filled, there is no longer a club!!!

If you have concerns, ideas on how to add to what our club offers or how to make the experience here even better, please contact a Board Member. We have posted on the club bulletin boards an Organizational Chart and one is also located on the Club’s website so that Board Member names and e-mails are available.

The Fall schedule begins on Monday, October 1st. We are looking forward to another fun year of Pickleball at SCF.